So many politicians have promised to end the decades-long national debate on Britain’s place in Europe – and failed.
David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak: all of them spent a large portion of their time in office dealing with questions over the EU, and none of them settled those questions for the long term.
So Sir Keir Starmer has accepted the inevitable. He knows his “Brexit reset” is not just one event, but an ongoing process that will stretch on for as long as he is in No 10.
That is why Nick Thomas-Symonds, one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies in politics, is beavering away as Minister for EU Relations – a permanent role, not just one that was time-limited for the summit that took place in London last month. The minister is in constant dialogue with his European counterpart, Maros Sefcovic, over how to implement the deal that was agreed, with great fanfare, by Starmer and Brussels chiefs. He is already thinking about the next summit which will be hosted by the EU next year.
Both sides agree there is progress to be made, and both praise the constructive tone which Labour has brought to the discussions – a far cry from Johnson’s strategy of maximum noise and maximum confrontation.
square IAN BURRELL Even the Remainers' bible is moving on from Brexit
Read More
But there is a problem: the UK Government and the EU administration can’t agree on what the priorities for their next steps should be.
For Starmer’s team, the most important issues are food standards and travel restrictions. The former, known as “SPS” in the jargon, is fiendishly complex but crucial to allowing British exporters to do business on the continent. The latter is a vital part of Labour’s argument that it is genuinely committed to making Brexit work better for ordinary Brits: allowing UK citizens to use speedier e-gates at European airports would remove the friction that travellers feel every time they go on holiday in the EU.
Brussels insiders snicker at the idea that Starmer won any sort of victory with the agreement that e-gates will in principle be open to Britons. The view on the EU side is that this was in fact always possible, as the policy is a matter for individual member states rather than the union as a whole – so for the UK Government to boast about this “concession” is meaningless. In fact, airport queues are likely to get worse not better from the autumn as a new visa waiver system comes into effect.
The Prime Minister has been “frankly not very ambitious at all”, according to one EU source – giving away concessions, particularly on fishing, in return for only limited wins. And things will get harder in the next phase as the two parties move on to the issues which require even more trade-offs.
While the EU is happy to make progress on SPS and tourism, its top priority in the coming months is a rather thornier question: the promised youth mobility scheme that will allow under-30s from Britain and the continent to spend time working on the other side of the Channel.
The European side will push for as large a scheme as possible, while British ministers seek to make it more limited in both scale and duration, for example by ensuring that the number of EU citizens coming to the UK is equal to those going in the other direction.
Another British ask, to make it easier for touring musicians to travel across the continent, will also be tricky. “It’s something we can only do on a political basis,” one Brussels source say. “Basically, we will only make concessions if we get something we want as well.” Starmer must expect to come under renewed pressure to move even closer to the EU, for example by following regulations set by the bloc, if he wants further victories.
Complicating the Prime Minister’s relations with Brussels is a growing split over how to handle Donald Trump. An EU insider says: “The US is not a friend right now. It is not an enemy, but it is not a friend.”
That is not Starmer’s view. He has hugged Trump as closely as possible, even when it looks a bit embarrassing – like when he bent down to pick up papers that the President dropped at the G7 summit in Canada this week.
Every step that Britain takes to get closer to the US risks irritating the EU – not to mention Labour MPs, who are distinctly unenthusiastic about buddying up to Trump. Yes, Starmer is friendly with Brussels again, but this is looking like more of a frenemy situation than a budding romance.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The EU is secretly laughing at Keir Starmer )
Also on site :